Mina Harker: A Strong Character Essay

A strong character is one who possesses many qualities such as being selfless, courageous and sacrificial. Dracula written by Bram Stoker portrays the young and witty Mina Harker. She is the best example to fit the description of a strong character. Mina starts off as a young school mistress who is engaged. As the plot progresses, her normal life changes and she is faced with many challenges that she overcomes, that show that she is the strongest personality in the novel. The first attribute that portrays Mina as being the strongest character in the novel is her habit of being caring of everyone. The first time we see Mina doing so is when Lucy tells her that she has been proposed to by three different men, Dr. Seward, Quincey P. Morris, and Arthur Holmwood. Lucy loves the attention that is given to her by the three men and just like any best friend she tells Mina about it. Lucy says, â€Å"Just Fancy! THREE proposals in one day!† (P. 60) Meanwhile, Jonathan, Mina’s fiancà ©e has been out of reach for the past month. Mina is quite worried about it but she hides her pain from Lucy so she doesn’t worry about her problems. This not only shows that she is caring, it also shows that she is a great friend. Another example of Mina being caring is when she was staying with Lucy and her mother. Lucy had just started sleep walking and Mina did whatever she could to stop her. Mina did that despite knowing that she was under the curse of Dracula. She wrote, â€Å"Lucy did not wake, but she got up twice and dressed herself. Fortunately, each time I awoke in time and managed to undress her without waking her, and got her back to bed.† (P.93) Mina does a lot of little things that show that she is a genuinely caring person. Mina shows the reader that she cares about the ones around her and she is willing to do anything for them, even if it means to sacrifice her wants and needs. She shows that she really loves her husband by sacrificing for his sake. Her journey of sacrificing starts when she is called to Vienne because Jonathan has been staying there because he was ill. Within a very short time of being with Jonathan, they get married. She marries a man who is not very sane at that time because of what he has been through. Jonathan’s insanity  starts to become more obvious to her when he and Mina are walking down the road and he spots the Count and says â€Å"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young.† (P. 184) Mina says that Jonathan was â€Å"was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half terror and half in amazement.† (P. 183) She doesn’t get upset or regret marrying Jonathan. She doesn’t break down despite everything that’s going on aroun d her. This proves how strong she really is. The heroine of the novel continues to show how strong she really is by protecting her husband. After marrying Jonathan, Mina becomes Dracula’s next victim. Even though, it is not clearly said, she is dragged into Dracula’s deceitful plan because she is Jonathan’s wife. In chapter 21, Dracula comes into Mina’s room and threatens her by saying if she screams he’ll kill Jonathan. Dracula then makes her drink blood from his chest. Mina made another sacrifice by protecting her husband by doing something very unhygienic and immoral. She shows her strengths by protecting her husband all for the great sacrifice for love. The sacrifices that she makes show how much courageous she has. Her bravery in the plan to kill Count Dracula shows that she is willing to risk her life in order to save mankind from Dracula’s immorality. Her bravery begins to show right after Lucy has become un-dead and Van Helsing wants answers from Mina. The idea of being interrogated about somebody’s death can be quite frightening. Although, Mina shows that she is brave and answers everything Van Helsing has to ask. Van Helsing and the other men start to think of her as a â€Å"new woman† rather than a Victorian woman. Her ability to be brave like a man puts her in a position in which she is thought of as to be one of them. Van Helsing says, â€Å"Ah, that wonderful madam Mina! She has a man’s brain- a brain that a man should have where he much gifted- a woman’s heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose believe me.† (P.253) This leads to the men trusting Mina with the strong qualities that she possesses. They know that despite the fact that she is a woman, she is brave. Mina shows her bravery and courage again when the men leave her in Dr. Seward’s home while they go to Carfax. The courage the she shows in these small scenes makes her a strong person overall. Despite all of the â€Å"new woman† qualities she possess such as bravery and  intelligence. She also possesses some other attributes of a strong person. She is a great listener and very comforting. Right after Lucy’s death, Van Helsing gets caught up in trying to explain what actually happened to Lucy to the other men. Dr. Seward, Quincey P. Morris and Arthur were in love with her. They went through quite an emotional ride after finding out what happened to her. In Chapter 17, everybody decided to meet at Dr. Seward’s house. The three men that loved Lucy hadn’t really opened up to anybody about their pain. Dr. Seward went through a lot of pain after seeing what Lucy went through. He hid it from others and himself by working day and night. On the other hand, Arthur was quite upset and shared a cry with Mina. Arthur and Mina were talking about Lucy and â€Å"he turned away and covered his face with his hands.† (P.247) Mina could hear him crying. Then Mina comforted him, something that the men had never done before. She became more of a motherly personality to him. She said, â€Å"With a sob he laid his head on my shoulder and cried like a wearing child, whilst he shook with emotion.† (P.247) Arthur understood that she had comforted him so he spoke to her freely. He said, â€Å"and none other can ever know __ how much your sweet sympathy has been to me to-day.† This shows that Mina is strong because she can provide emotional support to the people around her, something that the men can’t even do.